Dad of infant in stolen SUV won't be charged (with 911 call)

The father of an infant girl left alone in a vehicle moments before it was stolen outside a Warren gas station won’t face criminal charges, police said Wednesday.

After reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident, Warren Police Commissioner Jere Green said he conferred with the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office and decided investigators would not pursue a warrant against the dad, Jesse Thomas Greer, 22.

Police officials considered whether to charge Greer with one count of leaving a child below the age of 6 unattended in a vehicle causing unreasonably risk of harm or injury. That offense is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine.

“Clearly the message was sent this was a critical lack of judgment,” by the father, Green said. “Anyone listening to the 911 tape would agree … that this father was in complete horror, terror, panic of what he did, causing him to lose his daughter.

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“I know this is an emotionally charged issue because the safety of the child was at issue,” the city’s top police administrator told The Macomb Daily. “I reviewed it based on facts — not ‘what ifs’,” he said.

Warren police also referred the matter to Child Protective Services.

With little Aubrey Ann Williams, 3 months old, in a car seat, Greer, who resides in the city, stopped at Metro Gas on Nine Mile at Hoover Road at 6:50 p.m. Monday on his way to pick up his girlfriend at work. He said he left the 1995 GMC Suburban’s engine running and the doors unlocked when he walked into the gas station to prepay $5 for gasoline.

Moments later, he heard the “clunk” of a door closing and saw an unknown man behind the wheel starting to drive away. Greer raced outside, and frantically chased the SUV on foot. He unsuccessfully asked a woman who just pulled into the gas station if she would follow the thief.

The taillights became smaller in the darkness as the driver fled west and Greer ran into the roadway.

In a 4-minute 911 call, Greer described the theft and feared for his daughter, begging police to find her.

Before the end of Greer’s pleas to a police dispatcher, a Warren police patrol unit in the area spotted the Suburban parked on nearby Marmon Avenue, about three blocks south of Nine Mile. The vehicle was still running but the driver had fled.

Aubrey remained asleep in the vehicle and was unharmed.

“We got lucky,” Greer said in an interview at his home Wednesday, still visibly shaken by the incident involving his only child.

“I made the biggest mistake of my life and it almost cost me my child,” he said. “It was definitely devastating; something I don’t ever want to relive again.”

He thanked Warren police for their rapid response and finding his daughter safe.

With contrition, Greer hopes that acknowledging poor judgment will help another young parent think twice about leaving a child unattended in a vehicle.

Tears welled in the eyes of Aubrey’s godfather, Ken Normandin, as he listened to a recording of his friend’s terror-filled call to police.

“I wish I’d been there. He asked me to go with him,” Normandin said.

Robin Greer believes a guardian angel was looking over her granddaughter and also is thankful her son was not injured.

“It’s a godsend that he’s OK and she’s OK,” she added.

Child Protective Services workers visited Greer’s home in Warren and then told the family that the agency would not pursue neglect charges.

Warren detectives theorize the thief abandoned the SUV upon noticing the child in the back seat. A Michigan State Police K9 team attempted to track the culprit’s scent.

Police have made no arrests but described the thief as a thin black man in his early 20s, approximately 6 feet, 5 inches tall, between 135 and 155 pounds, with a small goatee and wearing a black knitted hat. Green said he has assigned two additional detectives to the case Wednesday to follow new clues.

“The evidence we recovered today indicates more than one person was involved, and we have some good investigative leads we will follow up on,” the commissioner said. He refused to elaborate.